Business Briefs

The price of computer memory chips, or dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, are expected to rebound further this month ahead of back-to-school computer demand and growing demand for bigger memory space, Taipei-based research house DRAMeXchange Technology Inc (集邦科技) said yesterday.

Contract price is expected to go up again in the second half of this month following a 5-percent hike in the first two weeks, DRAMeXchange said.

On the spot market, the price has jumped 7.58 percent to US$2.13 per unit last week from the prior week on strong demand from computer vendors and limited supply. The price rose 0.71 percent to US$2.25 on average.

Revenue climbed to NT$64.4 billion (US$2 billion) from NT$49.5 billion a year earlier, the Mailiao, Yunlin County-based company said yesterday in a filing to the nation's stock exchange. Sales were at NT$61.6 billion in June.

AIG General Insurance (Taiwan) Co (友邦產險), formerly known as Central Insurance Co (中央產險), yesterday announced that Rudi Spaan has been appointed its chairman. Prior to the new appointment, Spaan was general manager of AIU Insurance Company's Taiwan branch, another general insurance arm of American International Group (AIG) in Taiwan.

"My first challenge is to lead and complete the legal merger of AIG's two general insurance operations in Taiwan, possibly in the fourth quarter of this year subject to approval from Taiwan regulators," he said in a press statement issued yesterday.

Lim Kian-tiong (林建忠), AIU Insurance's vice president of finance and accounting, will serve as its acting general manager for the moment.

Following the merger, AIG General Insurance is expected to be the nation's No. 6 insurer in terms of direct gross premiums written, with a market share of 7.4 percent, it said in June.

Lite-On posts record revenues

Lite-On Technology (光寶科技), the nation's leading optoelectronic company, reported consolidated revenues for last month of NT$16.6 billion (US$503 million), up 33 percent year-on-year, making a third record high in its history. The accumulated revenues from January to July were NT$97.1 billion, up 1.2 percent from the same period last year, it said in a statement yesterday.

High-margin businesses such as enclosure, power and light emitting diodes all saw historic highs in monthly sales.

Compared with last year, enclosure business jumped 100.5 percent, and power supply business grew 35.4 percent, the statement said.

Going into the seasonally strong third quarter, it said it expects these high-margin businesses to see further expansion.

Nan Ya sales up 26 percent

Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), the world's largest processor of plastics for pipes and imitation leather, said sales last month rose 26 percent from a year earlier.

Sales climbed to NT$20.1 billion (US$611 million) from NT$16 billion in July of last year, the Taipei-based company said yesterday in a statement to the TSE. Revenue rose from NT$18.1 billion in June.